‘People are going to see a new side to us'

Little Mix are on a mission to find the next big pop group – look out, Simon Cowell!

- HAMAIZ IQBAL

They rose to fame on the eighth series of The X Factor back in 2011, and after becoming the first group to ever win the talent show, Little Mix are now one of the most successful girlbands in the world.

From winning two Brit Awards – for Best British Single in 2017 and Best British Video in 2019 – to getting four UK No1 singles and releasing five albums, the ladies have established themselves as pop royalty. Now they’re ready to use all their experience to find the next big stars in their new BBC1 show Little Mix: The Search.

Jesy Nelson, 29, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 28, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall, both 27, are going back to their talent show roots, but this time the girls are on the other side of the panel as mentors, to help nurture a new pop group.

“We’ve lived the experience ourselves,” Jade explains. “It’s a new way of doing things and we don’t follow the stereotypical rules of a talent TV show.”

Ooh, we wonder what the girls’ former record label boss Simon Cowell will have to say?!

Here, Little Mix talk about what it’s like having to say no to contestants, what we can expect from the live shows and what goes into becoming a globally successful girlband…

Hi girls! What’s your ambition for this series?

Leigh-Anne: To find the next best big group and to be the best mentors that we can be.

Perrie: We wanted the show to be different and unique, and feel fresh and young. We also hoped we’d find amazing talent, because if we haven’t got amazing talent, it doesn’t work. Luckily the talent was so good and the show is everything we wanted it to be.